The Australian Women's Register

Summary

The FKUV was established in 1908 to unite all free kindergartens and to maintain high standards of supervision, with the provision of trained kindergarten teachers deemed essential.

John Smyth (Professor of Education) and Ellen Pye (State Education Department) developed a training course that relied on co-operation between the Kindergarten Training College and the FKU. In 1917 the union was granted registration by the Council of Public Instruction as a training centre for kindergarten teachers. In 1922, as enrolments increased, the union moved to premises in Kew. Autonomy was granted to the Training College by the FKU in 1964 and it became the Kindergarten Teachers’ College.

See also The Free Kindergarten Union of Victorian 1908-1980 by Lyndsay Gardiner.

(Source: Historical Note University of Melbourne Archives)